For The Jenkins Family, with love.

Please pick up the phone! Why isn’t Eric answering his phone? Where is he? It’s 10:15pm, they should have been back from the movies a while ago, but I can see the home security on my cell phone, and there has been no movement. where is my family, are they okay?” Barb thought, “something isn’t right.” And sadly, she was right.
 

As Barb turned onto her street late that night and spotted the Maryland State Trooper vehicle in her driveway, she suddenly knew why Eric didn’t answer his phone. As she greeted the Trooper, she said a silent prayer. The Trooper asked her, that dreaded question, “are you Barbara and are you the wife of Eric”? as she confirmed her identity to him, she said to him “please tell me my family is ok” as she feared the worst.     

This was told to me by my good friend, Barb, about the day that has changed her families lives forever. 

Super Bowl Sunday, February 3, 2019 was like any other Sunday but, it wasn’t. Not for her and her family. As the Super Bowl played on, Barb and her oldest daughter were on a plane thousands of feet above and they had no idea that a stranger was dialing 911 to report a serious car accident that involved her husband and precious young daughters. That accident has changed their lives. It’s true, your life can change in an instant. It happened to them. 

In that instant, Eric, her husband and the father of her two little girls, was severely injured and taken to the University of MD Shock Trauma, where he remains today. His injuries were life threatening for weeks and are still numerous and extensive to this day. 

On that Sunday, as Eric drove his two daughters, Makenzie (6) and Madysin (3), home from a movie, his van left the roadway and went down a steep embankment, so far off the main road that it could not be seen from the roadway. But thankfully, it was seen, it was seen by an MTA Light Rail Train Operator, who dialed 911. The van landed near the light rail tracks in Linthicum, a small town near BWI. The driver spotted the damaged van and their little girls, walking around near the tracks. Thank God for that light rail driver that day!
 

We suspect that the van flipped end over end at least once and then rolled on its side a couple of times before landing, wheels down. We are so thankful that Eric had strapped their daughters safely into their car seats. The girls cried for help. Makenzie unbuckled herself and touched her Daddy’s face to check on him as he lay across the center console of the van. She later told a first responder that she wasn’t sure if the blood on her hand was hers or her Daddy’s, it turned out to be his. The girls were dazed, bruised and scared and they knew that their Daddy, (thirty-eight-year-old Eric), was badly hurt. He was in and out of consciousness. They were so thankful when the first responders arrived. The family was told that when they did arrive, Eric came to long enough to see to it that the girls were tended to. He begged the first responders, “please make sure that my girls are ok”, before they loaded him onto the stretcher and into a separate ambulance from the girls. We are so grateful for the numerous First Responders and medical professionals who aided their family that day and continue to do so.
 

When the horrible accident occurred, Barb and her 15 year old daughter, Savannah (Eric’s stepdaughter since the age of 3), were returning home from Florida where they had been attending a memorial service for Savannah’s Dad who passed away recently, after sadly losing his battle with renal cancer. 
 

With Barb helping her oldest daughter cope with the loss of her Daddy and now her husband in Shock Trauma, she has so much on her plate, and she is struggling to keep it all together. She hides her tears from her daughters, she tells them, daddy is being helped at the hospital and as soon as the doctors say they can visit; they will. But she truly has no idea when that will happen.
 

It has been fifty (50) rough days, since that accident. Fifty days, since those little girls have seen their daddy. They are used to having him around every day and doing so many things with them so it’s been incredibly hard on them all, as you can imagine. 
 

Eric has already been through so much medically. He has had several surgeries, countless procedures and has been on life saving machines and medicines. Currently he has pneumonia and a staph infection in his lungs. He has a trach and is dependent on a ventilator and oxygen to breathe. He has lost a lot of weight and still cannot move most of his body. He will have to learn to walk all over again. He will likely be in the hospital for quite a while still and even after he is released he will need more surgery, medical procedures, medicines, appointments and therapy.
 

The initial medical bills are starting to arrive, and they are staggering! Eric still has a long way to go and Barb still needs to maintain a home and decent life for their children. She has exhausted all of her leave at work and the leave donated by her generous co-workers. She will now be on leave without pay. She struggles between home, and the countless hours being with Eric in Shock Trauma. She is “exhausted beyond belief.”
 

This is where you and I come in; we would like to help support Barb and her family as Eric works his way through the healing process and they both can return to work. Please consider donating to this family, no donation is too small. Anything that you can contribute to them is a blessing!
 

Your donation would go to help cover any medical expenses not paid by their insurance and to help keep their household operating smoothly so that Eric can concentrate on his health and healing.
 

Won’t you please join with us in “For The Jenkins Family, with love”? ... We know kindness is power and we can’t do it without your help. 

We truly thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the continued love and support towards this wonderful family. Bless you all.
 

And, I promise you, we will pay this forward. I know Barb, she will.